Once Upon a Summer
by For.A.Moment
Summary: What started out as a family visit became more. She looked at his face, dimly lit by the moon. Running her fingers through his red hair their lips met. And then, she realized 2 things. 1 This is what love must be like & 2 This was her best summer ever
1. Summer Trip

Summer Trip

"Fingers blistering, soar throat, tired eyes… all small consequences. If you wanna make it in the music industry, that is. I will play, play, play until my songs are completed and perfect." The girl with the short dark brown hair chanted these words as she concentrated heavily on her music. Her painted blue walls covered with posters and layers music sheets; some were completely bank, others had scribbled notes. She sat on her cold hardwood floor with piles of scattered music sheets with fresh new songs on them and notebooks with her songs scribbled in such messy letterings no one but her could read them. From the floor below her she heard her mother call her. She slung her guitar off her shoulder and slowly made her way down the stairs. "I was busy writing a new song. What do you want?" She mumbled, once she faced her mother. Her father peered over his newspaper for a second and continued reading.

Her mother ran her fingers through her curly light brown hair and sighed. "Oh Amane, do you always have to give me such a bad attitude when you write your little songs?"

Amane frowned, "Little songs?" she began, "Wait 'till I become famous, singing to the crowds. And-" Her mother cut her off before she could say more and rant on.

"I just got off with my sister, your aunt Atsuko, and we feel it's about time you went off and visited the family. It's been ages since you've seen her and Yusuke." Amane's face lit up. If there's anyone in her family she actually liked being around, it's Yusuke. Back when her mom and dad just got married they lived close to Yusuke and Atsuko. But when she was 12 they moved away. Other than the occasional visit on Christmas, Amane doesn't see them much. "You are leaving tonight and will be there all summer. Don't cause too much trouble with your aunt, Yusuke creates enough chaos as it is. Help out around the house. Don't give them any of your attitude. Don't sleep in all day, spend time with the family. If they tell you to go out and run an errand, you do it, you hear me?" Amane nodded, she stopped listening after 'summer'.

Amane has never been happier, she packed up several bags of clothes, she put her guitar in it's case and gathered her newest notebook full of fresh songs in a backpack. She looked at everything, that's just about it. She rushed downstairs with her bags and tossed them recklessly in the car. Her father had the last of the bags in his hands and carefully placed it in the car. Amane hugged her mom and she hurried into the car. Her father started up the car and drove off. Leaning up against the window she watched the scenery fly by her. She closed her eyes and let the music she conjured into her head lull her into a deep sleep. A gentile hand on her shoulder woke her up. She opened her eyes to see her father's kind face. She smiled at him, she sat up, and looked out the window; there it was, the train station. She pushed herself out of the car and helped her dad with her bags. He handed her the ticket with a smile. Amane couldn't do anything but smile too. She hugged her dad tightly and they walked into the station. He waited with his daughter at the station until her train came in. Amane gave all her bags to the train attendant, but her guitar. She doesn't trust anyone with her guitar. And with one final hug she walked on, giving her ticket and boarding her train. Amane sat down on the seat and looked out the window. She saw her father's car leaving the station. Holding her guitar closely she watched the train fill with people. Amane was excited, way too excited to sleep. She turned her attention away from the people too see a boy about her age sitting in the seat next to her. She shrugged, she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, she may as well talk to pass the time.

The trip was long. She talked to the boy throughout the entire ride. She learned his name was Hideo, he was 15 years old just like her, his favorite color is red, he likes music; rock to be more specific. After that she stopped asking him questions and just got lost in the wonderful world of Rock music and all the people who have left their marks as the best of the best. Amane liked music. She didn't care about genre. Music is music and all music is good music. Some time into their conversation she played and sang some songs. Many people listened, the rest ignored her. Her melodies came to a sudden stop when the train came to a sudden halt. At last, the ride was over. She immediately shot up. Without packing up her guitar she carried the guitar in one hand and it's case in the other and rushed out of the train. She picked up her bags and looked around. There was no Aunt Atsuko, and no cousin Yusuke.

This was a great way to start off the trip, neither of them came to pick her up. Amane half jogged to a phone booth and dialed up the phone number scribbled on her hand. A groggy voice answered the phone, "hello?"

"Aunt Atsuko? It's me, Amane. I'm at the train station… is anyone picking me up?" Amane remained calm as she asked. Deep down she was concerned whether anyone was going to pick her up.

Atsuko said nothing for a while then replied, "I sent Yusuke to get you. He's probably running late."

"Oh, okay. Thank you. I guess I'll wait for Yusuke." Amane hung up and carried her bags to a seat and she sat down. She smiled, that explains everything. Yusuke is always late. Even when they were kids back when they lived closer together. Amane and Yusuke were partners in crime. The caused up so much trouble, Amane could almost assume that they moved for that reason.

About half an hour passed and a familiar figure walked closer. She smiled, it was Yusuke. Yusuke walked up to the girl slumped over, completely bored out of her mind. "Sorry I'm late." He said. Amane smiled and shrugged. "Time to walk home." He picked up two of her bags. Amane slung the back pack over her shoulders and carried her guitar case in one hand and last bag in the other hand. The two walked together catching up on what's been going on and what shenanigans they have gotten themselves into. Amane was shocked when they made it home from the train station. It was only a 15 minute walk! The tired girl sighed. This entire time she could have walked there herself and could have skipped falling half asleep on a random bench. Once inside the small apartment Yusuke pointed to a couch. "That's where you're sleeping."

Amane shrugged, better than nothing. She tossed her bags on the floor by the couch. Yusuke carefully dropped the bags in his hands and walked into another room. He came back with several blankets in his arms. "It's late, time for bed." Yusuke said as he handed off the blankets. Amane nodded her head reluctantly. She spent so much time sleeping, she wasn't tired at all. Amane sat up on the couch and played her guitar softly, not to wake up the house. Before she knew it time passed and the sun was coming up. Amane yawned and set down the guitar and cuddled into the blankets.

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><p><em>Author's Note: So... here's the first chapter. The idea for this story came to me one day and I decided to play around with it. Hopefully this hits off well (or at all). I haven't quite figured out what the rating should be, so I'll just play it safe a T since that's what most of my stuff ends up being anyway. R&amp;R plz, it woul.d make me happy. ^^<em>


	2. Enter: Takeo

Author's note:_ I really don't take long to update but a few projects were just shoved in my face. . Grrr… anyway, here's the next chapter. =) (Gotta stop now before I start going on and on)_

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><p>Enter: Takeo<p>

Amane awoke the next morning. She rose from the couch and lightly ran her fingers through her hair as she scanned the small room from the couch. In the next room she heard what sounded like people talking. She tossed the thin blankets off her and moved towards the unknown voices. She opened the kitchen door and walked in. Yusuke, along with three other boys, was sitting at the kitchen table. All the boys stopped talking and stared at Amane. She made her way to the fridge and under her breath she muttered, "awkward." She poured herself a glass of orange juice and walked towards the door. As she passed by the unknown boys she thought about the first word that came to mind. The short one. Cranky. Red haired one. Cute. The tall one. Sad. Amane left the room and sat on the couch as she swirled the orange juice in her glass. She thought about the tall boy with the orange hair. He was slumped over the table and had a sad look in his eyes, something was wrong. She could feel it.

Meanwhile in the room Yusuke leaned in further and mumbled, "Are you going to visit her today, Kuwabara?"

Kuwabara swallowed hard and replied, "well, yeah, she is my sister. And besides, the doctors don't know how long she's got." The boys were all dead quiet. It's not everyday a friend gets sent to the hospital, hanging on to their life by a thread. But then again, their lives aren't normal. The boys knew it was time to leave. They rose simultaneously and walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the door.

"Heeeeeeey," Amane started, "Where you goin'?"

Without turning around to face her, Yusuke answered, "out."

Amane gasped and sarcastically replied, "No, really?" She paused, getting no response to the boys

she asked, "can I come?" Yusuke shook his head no, still not facing her. He opened the door and the boys followed one after the other. Amane took a deep breath in and sighed. She came here to spend time with her family. Atsuko wasn't up yet and Yusuke just walked out. Amane stood up immediately and followed Yusuke at a safe distance. She wanted to know where they were going and why it was so important.

The group had traveled around for almost an hour when they suddenly stopped. The boy with the red hair looked over his shoulder and said, "She followed us." Amane leaned in, they were talking. She carefully moved closer and hid by the corner of a building, peeking her head out.

"You sure about that Kurama?" Yusuke looked over to where Kurama was looking, and there she was. "I'll deal with her." Yusuke sighed. He headed towards Amane and stopped. His head quickly shot to the sky. Something was there and it made Yusuke very uncomfortable. Amane was looking too. She could almost see a dark figure, but it was very unclear. The dark figure Amane was looking at suddenly darted towards her. In shock she stepped away from the building and ran. Amane didn't get to far before the figure caught up. She stepped back in fear as she stared at the strange figure before her. Yusuke and the boys ran towards her. The boy with the black hair was in a distance one second and right behind the creature the next. The figure moved his claws just as quickly as the boy appeared. His claws made a clear scratch on the boy's chest, he slammed into the wall behind him. The creature turned back to Amane, she looked into his wild eyes. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes waiting for inevitable pain, but it never came. With one eye, she peeked at what was going on. There was a bright light, and when it cleared. Yusuke was not to far away, pointing at the creature with his index finger, holding his hand like a gun. The creature was in the sky. He looked at the boys and then to Amane. In an instant he retreated. In a clearly frustrated tone Yusuke yelled, "Gah, almost had him." His attention turned to Amane, "I told you not to come! You could have been hurt."

Amane was dumbstruck. What was that thing? Is that boy alright? How did that light come from Yusuke? Suddenly she spoke looking down as her cousin scolded her, "What… what just happened?"

Yusuke was just about ready to yell more when a strong yet gentile hand grabbed his shoulder. The one Yusuke called Kuarama spoke to him, "That's enough Yusuke. I think we have other things to attend to." Yusuke nodded and Kurama continued silently, "Takeo went after your cousin… he only attacks the spiritually aware. We were lucky he retreated. If it had not been for that, she would have ended up just like Shizuru. He will be back for her, Takeo never gives up once he acquires a target."

Yusuke looked down. As usual Kurama was right. But then, he looked at Amane. This meant Amane was spiritually aware. It made him wonder if she was like him and Kuwabara. "Well," he started, "You may as well come with us. You're in too deep now." Amane nodded and wondered what that could mean.

The boy Yusuke introduced as Hiei stood up. Amane stared at the fresh wound on his chest. Hiei crossed his arms to cover it, immediately she looked away. As they walked Yusuke tried to explain everything as clearly and simply as he can. He explained Takeo is a strong demon that feeds off of the life force of other demons and spiritually aware humans. He added that Kuwabara's sister, Shizuru, was in the hospital and in critical condition because of Takeo. Her life was spared because they stepped in. But the doctors don't know how long she has. Amane was terrified. She heard Kurama say that she was targeted by Takeo and if they don't do anything then she may end up just like Shizuru.

The group arrived at the hospital. They walked in and asked the lady at the counter where Shizuru's room was. The lady looked down and called a doctor over. Kuwabara recognized the doctor, he was the man who promised he'd do all he could to save Shizuru. He walked up to Kuwabara and looked at the boy gravely, "I'm sorry, we did all we could."

Kuwabara looked at the man shocked. Everyone was wide eyed. Kuwabara stuttered, "No- no, it's impossible!" Kuwabara had tears streaming down his face, "It cant be! You promised me she would be alright!" The doctor tried to calm the boy. Explaining that she arrived at the hospital in a horrible condition and that he did the best he could. Kuwabara denied it all. "If you tried your best she would still be here!" The doctor shook his head. Amane looked away with tears. It was all so sad. She didn't know Shizuru, but even she wanted to cry. It was clear Kuwabara loved his sister dearly. Kuwabara fell to his knees and sobbed. Kurama knelt down and lightly touched his friend's shoulder. After some time he quieted down a bit. By the doctor had left and Kurama helped him stand. Kuwabara punched out of pure anger, "I'll kill Takeo if it's the last thing I do!" Yusuke nodded in agreement.

His attention turned to his cousin. She was in danger and Yusuke wasn't going to loose another person. "Let's go." Yusuke said pulling on Amane's arm.

"Where?" She asked, almost reluctant to go.

"Your going to stay with my teacher for a while." Amane let Yusuke pull her arm. She was curious now. Who could this mysterious teacher be?


	3. Break from Reality

Authors note: I really don't have a good excuse for not updating. I got obsessed with Lord of the Rings Online. Add me! Haha. Then when I finally log back onto fan fiction all these updates were thrown in my face, I got confused, and I needed to reread my last chapter to jog my memory. But I'm back, I promise. And I will remember to step away from The Shire every now and again to update this story. Time to crank up the music and start typing away I suppose, enjoy. Some r&r would be much appreciated! Much love, me.

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><p>Break from Reality<p>

Amane sat by her cousin's side as they waited for the bus. Her head was bowed in deep thought of the horror she witnessed the day before. The small group stayed by Kuwabara's side. With tears in his eyes he reminisced. Shizuru was much more than a sister to him. Their mother had past on back when he was a child; since then, Shizuru took over that role and raised Kuwabara. They may have had their occasional brother-sister spats, but he looked up to her. He wished he could have told her that before she left. Kuwabara, that poor boy, he remained home while Yusuke and Kurama accompanied Amane. Kurama, sensing Amane grieving for Kuwabara, gently laid his hand on her shoulder. Amane looked up to him. Her earthy brown eyes met his emerald eyes, and she flashed a small and obviously fake smile as if to say 'I know, I'll feel better. Just not now.' And, seeming as if her smile and it's hidden meaning was as clear as the cloudless sky above them, he nodded.

The bus approached and the three boarded. Yusuke paid for him and his cousin. Kurama paid for himself. The three sat together. Amane in the center with Yusuke to one side, Kurama to the other. The bus started to move and Amane watched the scenery out the window speed by. The first half of the ride was quiet. No one felt like talking much. Amane sunk in her seat, her feet touching her bag and guitar case. Yusuke looked at her cousin and asked, "Play a song?" Kurama smiled in agreement.

Amane glanced up to her cousin, then to Kurama. She sat up in her seat and pulled her guitar from her case. "Genre?" She asked.

"What ever, what do you play?" Kurama asked.

"Everything." Amane replied. Music is music and all music is good music, was the way she saw it. And so, she loved and played every genre. Without waiting for the boys to request anything she strummed her guitar. The entire bus filled with the sweet gentile, almost country like, melody. The boys listened to the girl as she played. But then were surprised by the strong, but still very feminine voice that came out of the girl, and equally surprised about the equally strong message, to live life to the fullest and to take a few risks along the way. Amane had written this song months before out of sheer boredom. But after yesterday, the message impacted them like nothing else.

The hours passed, Amane switched between her instrumentals and her melodies with equally as clever or brilliant lyrics to go with the music, and soon they made it to the end of the line. Amane placed her guitar in its case and they all emptied out of the bus. She looked around, "there's nothing here." This was in fact true. All around the group there was nothing but trees, bushes, and animals.

"We have to walk." Yusuke explained that their location was completely secluded in the forest, as far away from people as possible. Amane strapped her clothes filled bag to her back. Kurama offered to take her guitar. She smiled and handed it over. The three walked, taking a curvy and completely confusing path. Amane stayed close to the boys, she couldn't possibly remember her way back. After some time Amane cleared her throat in a way so the boys knew she wanted their attention. She asked for a break, almost as if she was embarrassed. They nodded and they all sat down in a nearby clearing. Amane and the boys talked for a while, she still had so many questions about the creature they saw yesterday, and how did Yusuke make that light, it was all so confusing and new to her. Yusuke was impatient. He didn't want to answer all her questions, after all, they could have been walking and getting closer to Genkai's temple. Yusuke's impatience got to everyone and they all stood and continued on. Amane walked right behind the two boys as they muttered to each other and suddenly something caught Amane's eye. She stopped. Flowers, beautiful flowers she had never seen before. She knelt down and picked one. Looking up she saw the boys much further ahead. She rushed up to catch up while putting the flower in her hair.

After some time the sun began to set. As the sun's last bit of orange light sank in behind the mountains in the background, the group saw the temple they told Amane about. Once there, Yusuke opened the door and approached a tiny and old woman. This was the teacher Yusuke was talking about? She was so small and looked so harmless. The woman approached Amane and said, "You must be who Yusuke was talking about, his cousin. Hopefully you aren't as dimwitted as him." Amane noticed her harsh tone of voice instead of the biting words it created. Amane shrugged, still speechless. Genkai took no notice, or possibly even care, to Amane's quietness.

Yusuke walked up to his cousin and roughly put his hand on her shoulder and told her, "You're going to be safe here. I'm going back into the city, I have to watch over Kuwabara. I'll come by every now and again to check up on you. Good luck surviving the night with this old hag." And with that, Yusuke left.

Amane turned to Kurama who had been leaning against the wall since his arrival. "Aren't you going?"

Kurama shook his head, "I'm staying here for a while. I'm leaving later tonight and going scouting with Yusuke, hiei, and possibly Kuwabara for Takeo." Amane nodded. Though yesterdays experience was no doubt the single most terrifying moment of her life, she actually wanted to help the boys. But, she knew there was no way she could. She doesn't have super powers like they do. Super powers is what she settled on. Neither boy clearly explained how they did what they did. So Amane decided her cousin was some twisted, delinquent Superman, without the superhero costume and the secret identity. It made about as much sense as anything else that's happened to her since her arrival.

The door slid open and a young girl with light blue hair approached them. Kurama introduced the girls. Amane smiled at her, as did Yukina. Yukina politely bowed slightly and said, "nice to meet you. I heard you were coming so I made you a place to stay. Follow me." Amane did as she was told. She and Kurama followed behind Yukina, side to side. Yukina slid open a door and added, "here it is. I hope it's to your liking." Amane nodded politely. So far, she wanted to spend this summer with her cousin. Which she is sure she isn't going to be doing any time soon. On the other hand, she had her own room. Yusuke's apartment was so small, they were all smashed together in a tiny room. The three walked in. Amane dropped her bag onto the wooden floor. Kurama placed her guitar case gently on the floor. Yukina looked at the strange shaped case. "What is that?" she asked.

"My guitar." Amane answered looking over to the blue haired girl.

Yukina looked at Amane, confused. "What is a guitar?" she asked in a curious tone. Amane remained smiling but wondered how Yukina could not have ever heard of a guitar before. She assumed this temple was even more secluded than she thought and living in this place was the equivalence to living under a rock.

Amane pulled the instrument out of its case and showed it to Yukina. "This is a guitar." She explained, "I use it to make music." Amane wondered if it was stupid to wonder if Yukina knew what music even was.

"Oh," Yukina started, "can I see it?" Amane nodded and handed it to her. Yukina looked at it confused and touched a string between her index finger and thumb. She lightly pulled on the string and let it slip through her fingers. The guitar hummed a low pitched noise.

"You know," Amane started to get Yukina's attention. "If you want, I could teach you how to play. It's not that hard of you have someone good teaching you, and I'm the best there is." Yukina smiled taking her offer. Amane placed the guitar into it's case and said, "we can do that later." Amane wanted to talk to Genkai, she had so many questions.

Yukina led her to Genkai. She looked over to the group, "what is it?" she asked.

Amane swallowed hard and spoke up. "I have some questions."

"Well…?" Genkai asked as a way to give her permission to speak up. The three kids approached the elderly lady and sat down ready to talk and get answers. Amane wanted to know so much and didn't know how to start. But Genkai was very helpful. After some time passed, Amane learned so much. From what she knew, Takeo was a _demon_ who absorbs power from _spiritually aware_ people to gain power. The correct term wasn't super powers, but her cousin had _spiritual powers_ he developed after he _came back to life._ This was all confusing, but she bared with Genkai and tried clearing everything up. This all just sounded so impossible. After all, she never believed in demons and magic or anything. Then Amane realized something, when did Yusuke die? She never heard anything about it. Maybe Atsuko just never called her and her family? Well, it's done. Yusuke is here, so it's all okay. The talk was very enlightening and though it all felt so strange, she was much more informed and not so confused. She thanked Genkai for the time she spent clearing all this up.

Amane walked back to the room. When she turned she saw Yukina, but no Kurama. Yukina explained how Kurama likes to disappear like that. Then asked if she can teach her how to play the guitar like she promised. Amane smiled and said, "of course. I needed a music break from all this anyway." She sat Yukina down and handed her the guitar. She was very patient with her, never getting frustrated or yelling at her. Amane taught her until Yukina's fingers hurt and she asked to stop. Amane grinned, "the pain is good. It means you really worked at it."

Yukina smiled back and got up. "Well I have some stuff to do around. I guess I'll see you around. Thank you for trying to teach me."

"It's no problem, if you keep at it. I'm sure you will be great." Amane continued to sit as she watched Yukina leave and close the door behind her. Amane sat in the quiet, collecting her thoughts. Today was very interesting, she met interesting people, and she has this entire place to explore. But for now, she just wanted to go outside and write a song. Amane stood, with the guitar in one hand, walked out of the room and made her way outside. She found a place to sit down. She had a tune in her head while she was teaching Yukina, and she really wanted to hear the tune outside of her head. Amane gently placed her fingers in the right cord and strummed with the other. She grinned. The tune was becoming a beautiful ballad that fit the beautiful scenery around her. The stars above her were superb. It's nearly impossible to see so many in the city. The breeze was calm as it nudged the grass and trees to it's own tempo. Fireflies filled the area. The breeze picked up some, not enough to notice, just enough to push the flower out of her hair as it glided into the forest. Amane played without a care in the world. Everyone had their own escape from reality. For some it would be singing, for others it was art, for many it was a special someone, the list is endless. But for Amane, it was her music.

There was a rusting in the bushes off to the side of Amane. She stopped and called out, "Hello?" No answer. She placed her guitar down to investigate. "Hello?" She called out, "who's there?" Still no reply. She walked up to the bush. Her heart pounded as she walked. Each step made it pound harder and harder. By the time she reached the bush, it felt as if her heart could jump out of her chest. She swallowed heard and pushed the bushes so she can see. It all happened so fast. She knew there was a person. Male. Red haired definitely. But he's gone now. Amane took a deep breath. It was probably Kurama. He did say he was leaving around this time. She turned and gathered her guitar and walked back into the labyrinth like temple. She should get some sleep. Tomorrow was another day.


	4. Let the Training Begin

Let the Training Begin

Amane had been living with Yukina and Genkai for several days, the past days have been very entertaining for her. By day she is with Genkai and the boys. They talk about updates on Takeo's whereabouts, it's all so interesting to her. By night she teaches Yukina how to play the guitar, in such a short amount of time she has learned many chords and has improved at an amazing rate. Living in the temple has been very calming. She no longer feels safe within it's blessed barriers and all feelings of Takeo breaking in have vanished from Amane completely. The feeling had been replaced by another. This was sometimes an unsettling feeling and sometimes it didn't bother her. It was a feeling of being watched over. She knew whatever was watching her was definitely friendly, and it did make her feel safe. Deep down she wished she could see the face that was giving her this pleasant feeling and to know why they keep their distance.

Kuwabara had slowly improved. His deep sadness over his sister was suddenly replaced by a hate towards the demon who killed her. He knew, Takeo had to pay. And he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted. His stressed out personality had at last returned to his goofy self and he had began his recovery process.

For some time now Genkai suggested Amane trained. If Takeo was going after Amane, her spiritual awareness must be above average. And Amane will not always be protected by someone else. She should be able to protect herself. Genkai knew she could focus her awareness and be able to do something to protect herself. Her power level was very familiar. There was a time when Kuwabara was at her level. Genkai and most of the boys helped her train. Hiei wanted no part of it. He preferred to watch from a distance or train himself. Amane had examined each boy. There was something she respected from each. Yusuke took risks, no matter how unorthodox they were. Kurama was the opposite, he was tactical. Hiei was shockingly fast and equally as strong. Kuwabara never gave up. Amane wished had those skills.

Genkai's training was the worst. They were tough and harsh. Yusuke laughed whenever she complained that she was in pain after a training session with Genkai, he had at one time suffered the same thing and shockingly survived it all. She was forced to push heavy boulders, or, barely nudge the boulder if she was lucky. Genkai wants actual pushing, her nudging was not good enough. And so, that earns her even more harder and seemingly impossible tasks. Soon she had her dodging Yusuke's spirit gun shots to save her life, trying to hold herself up with two hands, then one, then four fingers and down till she was down to one finger left. Walking on sharp spikes with no shoes. The terrors get worse as the list goes on. Since Genkai had began training Amane she had always explained how lucky she was to be trained by her. Martial artists all over the world would do anything to get trained by the great Genkai. Amane disagreed. To her, they were real dumb-asses.

At one point Amane's spiritual awareness was at the same level as Kuwabara. He often trained Amane in a much easier way then Genkai. He taught her how to harness her awareness and use it. Kuwabara tried passing down his spirit sword technique, but she had no luck at it. The two have spent many hours trying to get so much as a spark of power. After several days she managed to harness her awareness in a particular way. It was small, yet fairly effective. She managed to collect energy into her palms and with a touch it would shock giving the feel of a police taser. Unfortunately Kuwabara found that out the hard way. It was no spirit sword or spirit gun. But it was something. Amane can create it, but she couldn't hold it for long. She can keep it going for just half a second maybe a minute if she concentrated hard enough. With a ten minute cool down. This was discouraging for Amane, but Kuwabara always kept her spirits up.

Yusuke's training went back to difficult for Amane. He insisted on fist fights for training. Yusuke obviously went easy on his cousin. She was much weaker and he didn't want to hurt her too bad. For now his training is strictly fist fighting; once her powers manifest better he will throw in the spiritual attacks into their little skirmishes. These easily tire Amane, she remembers back when her and Yusuke were neck and neck strength wise. There was actually a time when she could beat up Yusuke! But that was years ago and Yusuke had been training and getting stronger, and Amane hasn't. When Amane started fighting one-on-one with Yusuke she sttod no chance to beating him. But thanks to Kurama's training she had a sliver of hope, even though she knew very well she has absolutely no chance to ever beating her cousin in a one-on-one fist fight.

Amane looked forward to Kurama's training. He eased up to her. She was working hard and she deserved some sort of break. Not to say Kurama's training wasn't hard, she had to use her brain instead of her strength. Often she and Kurama sat next to each other under a tree, other times she got to rest her head on his lap as he continued his lesson. They watched Kuwabara and Yusuke train; this was Kurama's lesson. She had to analyze their moves as much as possible, determine who made the smarter moves, and look at their match as many ways as possible. Amane was relaxed during her sessions with Kurama. His relaxed personality was very calming and they were very friendly towards each other. Amane considered Kurama her friend much sooner than the other two boys. Kuwabara came in second. She doesn't think Hiei likes her very much. Amane could tell he was much more than just smart, he had knowledge in a wide range of subjects. If Amane had a question, she knew Kurama had an answer. He also had many interesting stories about his past, about how he became a humane-demon hybrid, and about his mother. She sounded like a really sweet person to Amane.

Usually her session with Kurama ended close to the sun setting. By that time she ate with the group then went to give guitar lessons to Yukina. Ever since her training began, Kuwabara watched to praise Yukina and watch her. It was always so funny how obvious Kuwabara was. She would always tease him over how red his face turns when Yukina talks to him and how much goofier he acted around her. Amane's teasing never seemed to bother Yukina, but Kuwabara's face always turned bloodshot red whenever Amane teased. And after guitar lessons she would take her guitar outside to sing, listen to her guitar, enjoy the breeze, take in the beautiful night time scenery; which had been her inspiration for new songs. Most importantly, that uneasy, yet protected feeling she gets around her at that time. She loved the feeling. Or, that's what she told herself. But deep down she knew it wasn't the feeling she loved; it was the blurred and almost invisible figure she had seen that night when she first arrived.

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><p>Authors note: I'd like to thank you all for the reads, favorites, and my current review. Hope you all enjoyed this super short chapter. Sorry it's so short. It is currently 5:06 am and I want some sleep so I decided this was a good place to stop and upload. Sure hope you guys like the story so far. More love, me.<p> 


	5. Secret Admirer Revealed

Secret Admirer Revealed

Amane had been living at Genkai's temple for one whole month now. Each day she had spent her time training and improving. She was not nearly as strong as the boys, but she had gotten much stronger. She was able to spar with Yusuke and Kurama using spiritual blows. Although tiring, it was very excited. Kuwabara refused to spar with Amane; she was a girl and he didn't fight those. The boys all agreed she shouldn't spar with Hiei at all. He would go over board and seriously injure her.

The door to Amane's room slid open and Genkai walked in carefully and as silently as a cat, holding a small bucket of icy water. "Get up," Genkai demanded once she got close to Amane's sleeping body.

Amane turned over, her back towards Genkai, and muttered in a groggy voice, "Ten more minutes…" Genkai smirked. She knew she would say something like that. And without hesitation she tossed the water onto Amane. Shocked, Amane shot up with a scream.

Genkai laughed and said, "It's time to train. Get dressed and get out front asap." Amane sighed, she wouldn't sleep in a soaking bed. She had to get up now. Once Genkai left, Amane walked slowly to her clothes. She was training, so she shouldn't wear any of her best clothes, but nothing too heavy. Amane settled on shorts and a t-shirt. She looked at her hair, it was okay. The back was shorter so it spiked in all directions when she wakes up, the front was long and it always fell straight. Amane was happy when she cut her hair like this, she didn't have to style it at all; it's perfect for someone as lazy as her. After a few minutes Amane came to the front. As always Genkai wasn't even outside or even training her. Every morning Genkai wanders off. Where she goes, Amane would never know. Everyone else seemed to know.

The boys were standing around each other, probably talking about how they haven't found a single trace of Takeo since his last appearance in the city. This was all so frustrating for the boys and Amane. She was stuck in the barrier. Amane longed to break out of it and take a walk through the forest, but that would be too dangerous. Amane walked up to the boys and greeted them, "hey, how's it going?" Everyone but Hiei gave a short reply. She frowned, Hiei never talks to her.

Yusuke looked at his cousin and asked, "are you ready to train?" Amane nodded. And so, tt was time to spar with Yusuke. Amane and Yusuke walked away from each other and stood across from each other with a fairly good distance between them. The remaining boys backed up, giving them more room to train. Yusuke smirked and said with a cocky tone, "I'll make it easy for you, I wont even move from my spot. You better be ready, 'cause here I come!" Amane smiled back, equally as confident in her new skills. Yusuke went easy on his cousin, her most powerful ability, which they fittingly named the spirit taser, could only be done up close. His strategy was to keep Amane as far away as possible so she couldn't shock him.

Yusuke raised an index finger to his cousin and shot a quick spirit gun at her. Amane ducked down to her knees and let the shot go above her head; a risky move, but it worked out well for her. Yusuke shot at her again, being on her knees impaired her movement greatly. Amane gasped and shot up to her feet and ran out of the way, the shot just grazing her left leg. She winced at the pain, the cut wasn't deep at all, but it hurt. The pain could be compared to a paper cut. It was Amane's turn to strike back. Quicky she darted forward Yusuke standing to her right. The boys wondered what she could be thinking. Amane used the nearby trees and bushes to her advantage and hid. Yusuke shot several spirit gun blasts in the direction she went, unknowingly knowing she was no longer in that direction but managed to sneak up behind him, the trees covering her path. Amane swallowed hard and went for it, there was not much more she could do. And so, with a spirit taser in each hand she darted for her cousin from behind. Yusuke heard her coming and turned around quickly, blindly shooting one last spirit gun blast in her direction. The blast was too close to dodge and Amane froze in terror. She suddenly heard the blast hit a tree and the next thing she knew Hiei had moved her out of the way. Thankfully, they were both safe. Amane stood up and faced the demon, she bowed her head and said with a shaky voice, "thank you." Hiei barely acknowledged her words. The other three boys ran up to Amane.

"You guys okay?" Yusuke asked. Amane nodded.

Hiei muttered, "humph." Amane frowned, she wasn't sure if it was his stubbornness or the fact that he was just plain rude, but she felt like to Hiei she was a burden on the group.

"Amane," Kuwabara started, she looked up at him with a curious expression on her face. He continued pointing to her leg, "your leg is bleeding." Amane looked down. It was true, she hadn't noticed. The rush she got now from her training sessions was so intence she hadn't noticed the bleeding wound.

Kurama took her arm, "Here, there is some medicine and gauze in the temple. I'll get it and apply it to your wound. Please sit down." Amane did as she was told and waited for the red haired boy to come back. While she waited Yusuke apologized for being so rough with her, Amane shrugged. It was no big deal. She was slightly injured, but this must mean training was over for the day, with plenty of hours left in the day to goof off. Kurama came back with a small case in his hands. He knelt down beside Amane. While he squeezed a tube of ointment he told her in a gentile voice, "this might sting a bit, but bear with the pain." Amane smiled sweetly and nodded. Just as he said, it stung. Amane gritted her teeth and took a deep breath out while Kurama carefully rubbed the ointment on and wrapped her cut up in the gauze.

Amane smiled, a little embarrassed, she could have done it. "Thank you, Kurama."

"My pleasure," he said as he stood and offered her his hand. Amane took his hand and stood up. "Go inside and rest your leg. You can continue your training."

She nodded and walked over back to the temple. While she was inside she made a snack and sat down by the window. As she ate she saw the boys talking again. She knew it was about Takeo. She frowned. They always left her out of the conversation, and she was the one being targeted. She sighed, it was no fair. She spent the day sitting in her room. Yukina got her lessons early since Amane was bored out of her mind. "No, keep this finger down." She instructed. Yukina did as she was told and strummed. "See how it sounds better?" She asked.

Yukina nodded, "yeah."

Amane paused, then asked, "where do you spend most of your time? I never see you around."

"With Genkai." Yukina answered.

"Does she tell you if the boys have any info on that demon?"

"She told me they don't have much information about his whereabouts," she started, "don't they ever tell you?" Amane shook her head. They don't tell her a thing, ever. And with that, Amane dropped the subject and continued with the lesson.

When the lesson was over Amane saw Yukina out and took her guitar with her. She walked to the same place she had been going to for a month now. While her fingered pressed, strummed, and plucked at her guitar, she wondered why the boys never tell her anything. Maybe they all felt how Hiei felt and she was just plain weak. Amane looked down to the ground. She didn't want to be babysat, she wanted to take care of herself; in fact she knew she could take care of herself. Amane put her instrument down and began walking. She looked around the area, it was dark, the moon's light guiding her way. Her steps finally came to a halt. The barrier ended just right in front of her. Amane pouted, she could take care of herself. She wasn't scared of Takeo one bit. Confidently she walked out of the barrier, abandoning her safety. Amane kept walking. Gazing at her surroundings, it was all so beautiful; so enchanting. Amane would never see this kind of stuff in the cities. Suddenly she stopped. There was a group of flowers, similar to the flowers she had picked when she, Yusuke, and Kurama had traveled to Genkai's temple. Amane got down to her knees and looked at the thick stemmed, leafless red flowers. They were just as beautiful as everything else in this forest. Amane reached out and pulled a flower. She placed the flower in her hair. Amane smiled, there was really nothing to worry about. She continued walking down an unknown path, exploring the surroundings. An hour passed and she had spent the time walking, carefully walking on fallen trees to cross a small creek, looking at the nearby animals, and overall just enjoying the surrounding.

The sound of a twig breaking filled the silent air. She took no notice to it. Telling herself it was just an animal. Amane continued her way. The sound she had heard became louder and louder as the minutes passed. Her heart pounded harder and harder as the time passed. Amane cleared her voice and called out, "Hello? Who's there?" There was no reply. Amane was on edge. Her senses peaked out of sheer terror. And she told herself that she may have made a mistake leaving the safety of the barriers. And then, suddenly, it appeared before her. Takeo.

The demon growled, showing his sharp fangs. Amane took a step back. Takeo charged for Amane. She turned to flee as quickly as she could. Fear and adrenalin pumped through her veins as she ran. Each time she looked back she saw Takeo catching up. His monstrous laugh became louder with each second. Amane tripped and fell to her knees. In her head she ordered herself not to be scared. Her palm glowed with energy. Takeo closed in on her. "Your energy is mine!" He screamed in a shrill, piercing voice. His claws dug into Amane's stomach. Pain ran through every inch of her body.

This was her chance. Amane grunted in pain, "Here it comes then." She placed a hand on Takeo's body, sending a surge of her energy through his body. The pain from her spirit taser only made his claws dig in deeper. Amane was in pain, shocked, and had convinced herself she was going to die. And after all this, she never got to see the face she wanted to see. Suddenly, it all went black.

Amane felt as if she was floating in air. She wondered if she was dead. She didn't have any energy at all. Not enough to move or even open her eyes. A male voice told her not to move. She remained still. She wasn't dead after all. She felt him pull her closer to his body; Amane listened to the beat of his heart. And with all the energy and will she had left she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, but it slowly cleared to reveal who was carrying her. Shocked, she stared at him, her face began flushing. Amane closed her eyes because she got what she wanted and saw the face she wanted to see.

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><p>Authors note: I admit, that last chapter wasn't all that… but hey, it was 4 in the morning when I started typing it up! I hope this chapter makes up for it. I'm pretty sure it's clear who this mystery admirer is. At least, I thought my hints were pretty obvious. But maybe it's just me. (most likely just me) Once again, Id like to thank you all for the comments and faves and reads. Y'all rock! Well, that's all I planed on saying for now. Keep on reading! Much love, me<p> 


	6. First Love

First Love

Amane's eyes opened slowly. The familiar sense of pain she had felt the night before still existed. Amane continued to stare at her room's ceiling, thinking about the night before. Using all her might, she endured the pain in her stomach and barely managed to sit up. And then, it the corner of her room, she saw him. Once again, her face flushed at the sight of her savior, who had fallen asleep; his back to the wall, head down, and arms crossed over his chest. Nervously, she swallowed hard and called out to him, "Uhm… Hello?"

The boy blinked a few times, before realizing who was calling him. His head shot up and he gave her a toothy grin, "G'mornin'!"

Her face reddened even more as she continued talking to him, "My name is Amane. And you are?"

He approached her and knelt down by Amane's side. Amane was fixed into his deep blue eyes as he replied, "Jin's teh name." Amane bit her bottom lip to refrain smiling or even laughing at his accent.

Looking down for a quick second she looked up at the boy, now sitting down at her side. She asked, "Were you the person watching me this past month?" Jin's cheeks turned light pink as he shyly nodded. He didn't think she knew he was there. Amane smiled sweetly, she could tell from his reaction he was a bit embarrassed by her question and his answer. She figured she should change the subject for his sake. "Do you live around here?"

Jin looked her in the eye, happy she changed the subject. He nodded, "teh mount'ns nearby. Me 'n' my friends t'at is."

"Friends?" Amane asked curious.

Jin smiled, "Ay."

Just before Amane could ask another question the two heard foot steps getting louder and louder. Jin turned around and the two starred as the paper doors slid open. Yusuke stood on the other side. Shocked, he hesitated. He didn't expect to see Jin around these parts, or, even in human world. Yusuke thought he would be in the Demon Plane. "Jin!" He exclaimed.

Jin stood up, as perked up as possible, "Urameshi! How ya been?" Jin quickly made his way to his friend.

"Just fine." He replied, "So, I see you have already met my cousin." Jin looked shocked. He had no idea they were related. Amane didn't look much like Amane; probably because Yusuke got all his looks from his dad, Amane looked more like his mom than he did. "You look surprised." Yusuke pointed out. Jin let out a laugh; part joy, part embarrassment. Yusuke looked over to his cousin. He saw blood seeped through bandages wrapped on Amane's stomach. "What happened to you?"

Amane looked down. How could she possibly tell Yusuke what she did the night before? Yusuke would kill her! "Well… I… I," She started, completely unaware how to explain what she did, or even why she did it. She wasn't really thinking when she left the barriers, Yusuke of all people should understand right? After all, he never thinks anything through, ever. It was the Urameshi way after all. She took a deep breath and let it all out, "I left the barriers and… well… Takeo managed to find me. I guess… er, Jin saved me." Yusuke gave Jin a look he had never seen come from Yusuke. But Jin understood and nodded solemnly. He knew it was his was of saying thank you.

Yusuke walked up to Amane, wounds tightly bandaged up. "See why we told you to stay here? That monster has already killed one person. We don't need another dead! You can't even move, that's how powerful this guy is! Why would you even go out there!"

Amane's head was down. She bit her lip then answered, "I wanted to prove I could take care of myself…" Now, after she did it and after she hurt herself badly for trying, Amane realized it wasn't such a good idea.

Yusuke, though still furious with her, eased up a bit on Amane. "I guess now all you can do is stay here till your wounds heal up." He turned to Jin. "Listen man, Thanks for bandaging her up and saving her. Really, I mean it."

"Naw, 'tis no problem." He smiled at his friend, "I could keep an eye on 'er, if ya don' mind."

Yusuke nodded, "Yeah, thanks Jin." And with that, Yusuke left the room to give the news about Amane to the rest of his friends. Once again, Amane and Jin were alone together.

Amane struggled in bed to lay down. Jin carefully took her arm and helped her lay. Amane smiled, embarrassed she had to rely on someone to help her out so often. "How long have you been in my room anyway?" She asked.

Jin answered her without hesitation, "Since I took ya home." Amane smiled, he stayed with her the whole night and most of the day.

"Aren't your friends worried about you?" She asked.

Jin shook his head, "Most likely not, I wand'r 'round all teh time." Amane smiled. Jin was excellent company, and he managed to keep Amane interested in just about everything he had to say to her. He told her stories about himself. How he and Yusuke met, what his friends were like, and how Genkai has been keeping him and the others in the human world for personal training sessions.

Meanwhile, Yusuke and the boys gathered around and talked.

"Always going around thinking they're all tough. Humph, very Urameshi-like." Hiei said with a pout and stubbornness in his voice.

Kuwabara spoke up, "Well, it's not like we did tell her anything. It's understandable." Kurama nodded in agreement.

Yusuke turned to Kurama, "I'm don't know much about medicines and that kind of stuff. I don't know how well Jin did patching her up. You mind looking at it?"

"I'm sure Jin did fine, but I will go and take a look at it. We should bring Yukina with us too. Her healing powers should be beneficial." Kurama answered. The boys made their way to the temple and looked around for the snow princess. They found her sitting on the porch of the temple. Kurama explained to Yukina why they needed her. Yukina kindly offered to help if she was needed and followed along with the group to Amane's room.

They slid open Amane's door to see Jin still sitting next to Amane. His head rested on the bed near hers. Using one arm as a pillow, the other held Amane's hand while she slept. Yusuke walked up to Jin and woke up the wind master and his cousin. Jin sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. He rose to his feet and gave kurama and Yukina room to treat Amane. The two stepped forward. Kurama examined Jin's bandages. They were done quite well, they just needed to be changed. Carefully Kurama unwrapped the bandages from her stomach and took a closer look.

It was a deep wound that stretched mid-ribcage all the way down to her lower stomach. From years of experience Kurama could tell that Takeo had been pulled and then dragged off of Amane. He turned to the group behind him, "I think it would be beneficial, if you should all leave the room." Everyone followed Kurama's orders. Yukina was aloud to stay, incase she was needed. Kurama already had made plant concoctions ready to be used. "Is this going to hurt?" Amane asked.

"Wll, it'll definitely sting." Kurama replied. Amane groaned as she prepared herself for certain pain, clenching her teeth.

Kurama applied the concoction explaining that it would disinfect her gash. The medicine stung bad. It hurt just as bad as rubbing alcohol on a scrape. Amane took a deep breaths and her hand gripped the blanket tighter each time she felt pain. Kurama worked diligently on cleaning up the deep claw-like gashes. Once he finished, he and Yukina gently helped Amane sit up so Kurama can wrap her up in clean bandages.

Yukina took her hands and focused. Amane felt a tingling sensation starting from her hands and slowly moving up her arms and spreading around her body. Then the tingling feeling became warmer. Amane was in a little less pain. "Wow," Amane exclaimed. "That's amazing!"

Yukina smiled, "Whenever the boys hurt themselves I help speed up their healing process." Amane watched Yukina in awe. Yukina let go of her hands. "Are you feeling better now?"

Amane smiled, "Yes, I am. Thank you" she turned to kurama, "Thank you to you too Kurama."

"It's no problem at all," Kurama replied.

Amane felt almost as if she was completely healed. Obviously she wasn't going to be training with the boys anytime soon. But at least she could move on her own, it was a start. Slowly Amane turned and with Yukina and Kurama in front of her, she walked out of the room. Everyone but Jin and Yusuke had left the door.

"How do you feel?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm standing, aren't I?" Amane asked. Before Yusuke could say another word she smiled and said, "I feel much better, really." Yusuke nodded. That's all he needed to hear from her. Amane looked out. The sun was setting. Amane turned and walked back into her room. She walked back out with her guitar. "Now, if you excuse me. I'm going to go play this for a while."

Yusuke looked out, "Yeah, me, Kurama, and Kuwabara should be heading back into town. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Yusuke said. He and Kurama walked a bit together, going to retrieve Kuwabara. Yusuke turned to his cousin and added, "and you better not do anything stupid!"

Amane waved her cousin and friend off. "No promises!" she yelled back with a smile. Amane looked over to the wind master. "You have any plans?"

Jin shook his head, "I didn' make 'ny." Suspicious he asked, "why?"

Amane smiled deviously, "I feel like doing something stupid."

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><p>Authors note: Tah-dah! The surprise is revealed! Hehe, I was trying to word things making look like it was Kurama this entire time. But no. I had to put everyone's favorite perky-eared Irish wind master in this. He is one of my faves after all. Hehe, sorry I suck at typing accents. I haven't written anything with Jin in it for a while now and I figured it was time I did. Anyway, as always, keep on reading, there will be lots more to come and more updates soon. Thanks for all the reads, faves, and reviews. ^-^ Okay, I love you, bye bye! Love, me.<p> 


	7. The Demons in the Mountain

The Demons in the Mountain

Amane strapped her guitar and threw it over her shoulder so the instrument hung against her back. She took Jin's arm in her hands. "C'mon," she started, "lets go!" Jin followed the girl wondering where exactly she was taking him. Amane walked by Jin's side, with her arms wrapped around his. The two took a short walk before approaching the barriers.

Jin stopped her abruptly. "Ya don' really plan on leavin' this place?"

Amane smiled, "of course."

Jin gave her a weird look, "do ya ever be learnin' your less'n?"

Amane stared at him blankly and let his words sink in. Although not completely understanding his question she shook her head and replied, "no, not really."

Jin let out a sigh. "Ya not goin' anyw'ere. Too dangerous." Jin was right, it was way too dangerous. But there wasn't much to do around the temple and Amane really wanted to take him somewhere else to hang out. Jin looked at Amane. She looked sad. Letting out a sigh he caved. "Oh Alright. But we're not goin' too far."

Amane smiled, "Yay! Yes, okay." Amane didn't have big plans. But she didn't know if there was anything cool or even something that stood out a little nearby. The two crossed the barrier together. Amane stopped in her tracks and looked around. "Uhmmm…" she started, "Let's go… that way!" She pointed to the right. And Amane started walking, taking a very nervous Jin along with her.

"Ya have no idea where we be going, huh?" Jin asked.

"Not a clue." Amane grinned, "I'm sure something will come up." Jin was concerned. He just hoped that _something wasn't going to be Takeo. That demon, was strong. His power level was equal to or even slightly hire than Jin's. Jin could tell Amane had potential to be a great fighter, just like her cousin; maybe it runs in the family? Amane had no idea where she wanted to go, but Jin had an idea. It seemed like a good idea because he knew Amane would be safe. Amane and Jin walked for several minutes through the think forrest. Suddenly, Jin snapped out of his deep thought and remembered something important. He prefers flying! _

_Jin stopped Amane from taking another step, "wanna getta better look around?"_

_Amane looked at Jin confused, "Sure, but how?" _

_Jin grinned. Why tell her when he could show her. Jin took a long, deep breath and the wind around began picking up. The gust picked up faster and stronger until Jin was floating off of the ground. Jin let out his hand to Amane, "Wanna ride?"_

_Amane smiled and took his hand, "As long as I don't fall I guess." The wind master took Amane in his arms and held onto her close. He shot up into the sky. Amane closed her eyes and buried her face against Jin's chest, trying not to let out a scream. _

_Jin stopped several hundred feet off the ground. He looked to Amane and let out a loud laugh, "Are ya really scared? I think it's fun!" Amane looked up to him. If he thought it was fun then falling probably wasn't a possibility. She stretched her neck out and looked beyond Jin's arms to see the ground. Her head shot back, Jin falling probably wasn't a possibility; but her falling was definitely one._

_In a slightly shaky voice she muttered, "this is high."_

"_Ay," Jin smiled, "But feel that breeze. 'Tis a great feeling!" Amane smiled. He seemed to be enjoying himself. "Ah, c'mon I know a place we can hang out fer a while." Amane knew she didn't have a choice. And besides, she was interested in knowing where the wind master had in mind. Jin flew slowly, normally he would be going as fast as he could, but he didn't want to scare Amane. Amane held on tightly to Jin, he noticed she did look around every time to time. Underneath them there was a small, hidden trail, Amane noticed Jin following the trail._

_Jin tilted over to his side to make his landing. Amane gripped onto Jin tightly as they got closer and closer to the ground. Jin reached the ground, a final gust rushed around the two and then disappeared into the air around. "Where are we?" Amane asked._

_The wind master pointed to a large set of heavy doors, "This is where I be livin'. Figured it was a good place at be hangin' out fer a while." Jin led Amane to the doors and he gave it a big push. The doors slowly opened wider. Inside, Amane heard voices. She wasn't sure how many. Jin took her hand, "It's dark. Don' want ya gettin' lost now." Amane nodded, it's not like she wouldn't have let him hold his hand. The two walked in darkness, Jin must have walked this path many times, not once did he stop to think, decided that he went the wrong way and turned around, or even ran into the cave wall. The path was long and winding. Up ahead there was light on the other side of the cave, just a small turn away. Jin led her to the end of the tunnel. There were several people sitting around a brightly lit room. Jin took Amane in his arms, they were up on a small cliff. He jumped off and landed safely to the bottom. "We have a guest," Jin called to the boys. All four of them glanced over to the girl. Jin stood behind Amane, his hands rested on her shoulders, he walked her closer to the boys. "This is Amane Urameshi." Jin announced to his friends._

_That name, Urameshi, caught their attention. "Wait, Urameshi?" A tall muscular man with a dark blue Mohawk and a heavy Australian accent asked, "This little Sheila is related to Yusuke Urameshi?"_

"_Cousin," Jin replied._

"_Are you strong like him?" He asked her. Amane shook her head no. "That's too bad."_

_Jin defended her, "Chu, she just started fighting a month ago. She's strong for how long she has been training."_

"_A month?" A young boy asked, he walked up to Amane and looked at her closely. "Hi, I'm Rinku, nice to meet you. Jin, is this the girl you have been going on and on about for the past month?" Jin shushed his friend. Rinku let out a playful laugh, "look how red your face is! This must be her then!" The other boys laughed. Jin had talked about her since the day she had first arrived at Genkai's temple._

_In a badly done Irish accent Chu teased his comrade, "Aye, she be prettier than a sunrise. She has got herself a great talent. I don't be knowing her name, I'll find out soon though." Amane smiled, holding in a laugh. She wasn't laughing at Jin, she thought he was sweet. She was actually trying not to laugh at Chu. She could clearly hear his accent, not the Irish accent Jin held. Jin on the other hand looked away, his face was as red as ever._

"_Stop embarrassing him," another boy said. The boy had short blue hair, green spiked bangs, pale skin, and blue pupil less eyes. He walked up to Amane and gave her his hand and introduced himself, "My name is Touya." Amane took his hand and lightly shook it. _

"_Nice to meet you." Amane greeted the ice master._

_A blonde haired boy stood next to Touya. On his shoulder there was a pale creature. The blond stepped forward, "I'm the beautiful Suzuka!" Amane gave him a big smile. Was the beautiful part really necessary? He pointed to his shoulder, "This is Shishi." Amane looked at Shishi, he was so cute. The creature was short and held a needle in his hand._

_Shishi floated off of Suzuka's shoulder, it suddenly transformed into a boy. Amane was in awe. In a confident voice he gretted, "It's a pleasure to meet you." Amane nodded._

_There cave was an empty, open place. Amane's eyes scanned her surroundings as Jin explained, "Sorry our place isn't all that great. We train here so it's pretty empty." _

"_When Genkai comes around?" Amane asked._

"_Aye," Jin answered. "Make yerself at home." Amane's head turned to the wind master and she smiled at him._

"_So, do you have any of Urameshi's attacks, like the sprit gun?" Chu asked. _

_Amane shook her head. "No, I have different moves."_

"_Can you show us what it is then?" He replied back. And again Amane shook her head. "Why not?" Chu asked. _

"_You wont see it. It's not very visual." Amane answered. "Definitely could feel it, but that would hurt."_

"_Come at me then," he said. Amane wondered if he was missing a few screws. Didn't she just say 'but that would hurt'? _

"_Oh, I don't know if I could do that…" She replyed. _

"_Yes you can, you have my permission." Chu was determined. It was very interesting that she was related to Yusuke, and he wanted to see how powerful she was. Amane sighed. She walked up to Chu. Amane took out her hand. Palm up, her hand sparked several times; like she said, it wasn't all that visual. Amane reached out for Chu's arm and grabbed onto it lightly. A surge of electricity ran throughout his body. It stung bad. Amane let go of Chu and he slightly lost his ballence. "Wow, I almost lost my balance there sheila. It hurt too, not enough to actually kill. Not too shabby though." Amane smiled. His works were somewhat encouraging. _

_Jin put an arm around her shoulder, "Ya must be cold. Sit 'round the fire wit' us."_

"_Okay." Amane answered. The group sat around the fire. To Amane's left was Jin, Rinku was on her right. _

"_Okay, now look at this trick!" Rinku was showing off a few of his yo-yo tricks. Amane smiled at the young child. If she could even call him one. It's amazing how slowly demons age. Rinku was probably a few hundred years old. The thought bothered her a little. Amane can admit to herself that she liked Jin, a lot. But what would happen if they became more. Jin looks like he's 17 years old, in reality he's probably three hundred or even older. In fifty years she will be sixty-five, and old. Jin will probably look like he's 19. It's a sad thought. If there was any way to age like a demon she would do it. But, unfortunately, she is and will always be human._

_Once Amane realized this, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She had a great time hanging out with the boys, but she couldn't help but feel bothered by this. Jin noticed Amane seemed lost in her thoughts often. Jin turned to the guys, "'tis late. I should take her back home now." He led Amane out of the cave and back to the side of the mountain. While he and Amane were in the sky he asked her, "You seem at be thinking' a lot."_

_Amane looked up at the wind master and said, "Kind of. But it's not too important." That was true. It wasn't like she and Jin were going to get married, they did just meet only a few hours ago. _

"_Nothing important, eh?" He asked._

"_Not now." She started, "I guess we'll see though. It might become important later."_

"_I see," Jin relied. Just below them was the temple. Jin landed right inside the barrier. As he set her down he said, "Well, I guess I'll see ya latter." Jin was unsure when exactly was later._

_Amane smiled, "How about tomorrow?" She asked. _

_Jin really perked up. She actually wanted to see him again. "Ya got yerself a deal!" Jin shot up in the air and waved to Amane standing in the ground. Amane waved back and watched the wind master fly away until he disappeared into the distance._

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><p><em>Author's notes: So, that's the end of this episode. I know I'm about an hour and a half off, but happy fourth of July y'all. Thanks for all the reads and such. It means a lot. I hope this chapter wasn't all that bad. I hope to have the next chapter up asap. Much love, me<em>


	8. Deal with the Demon

Deal with the Demon

Amane awoke in her bed. Her stomach was in some pain, but it was bearable. She dressed up and walked out to meet up with her cousin and his friends. Yusuke was in a sparing match with Kuwabara, it seems like Yusuke was going to win yet again. Kurama and Hiei watched off to the side. Genkai watched from the porch, drinking some tea. Amane walked over to Kurama and Hiei. "Good morning." She greeted.

Hiei glanced over then looked back to the fight. Kurama smiled, "Good morning, how was your night?"

Amane thought back to the night before. She met five interesting boys and had a great time with Jin. "Well, it was interesting." Kurama wondered what could that possibly mean. Yusuke shot Kuwabara with his spirit gun, and the match was over. Kuwabara was on the ground while Yusuke laughed in triumph. Yusuje walked over to Kuwabara and helped him to his feet. Amane glanced over to kurama from time to time. Finally she asked, "Kurama, do you think it's possible for a human to age like a demon?" Both Kurama and Hiei looked at Amane.

"Why would you want to know that?" Hiei snapped.

Amane casually shrugged, "Just wondering."

Kurama thought about her question, "Well, I suppose it's not impossible. But it's definitely rare."

Amane looked discouraged, "oh, I see."

"Are you sure you are just wondering?" Kurama asked.

Aname nodded and smiled sweetly, "yeah."

"Shall I take a look at your wound today? Change the bandages maybe?" Kurama asked. Amane put a hand on her stomach and thought about it. He should. The last thing she wanted was an infection. Kurama and Amane walked into the kitchen to change her bandages.

Watching his cousin leave he yelled, "Hey come back with a sandwich okay?" Amane didn't turn to Yusuke, she waved him off.

Amane showed Kurama her bandages. Kurama lightly began to unwrap her stomach. Once her skin was revealed he went into a cabinet and got the medicine box. He looked through the small bottles and set one aside. Kurama opened the bottle and poured the medicine onto his hand. Tenderly he rubbed in the medicine to her stomach. There was little pain, it seemed that her wound was healing quickly thanks to Yukina, and that her wound was now beginning to scab over. Amane watched Kurama work and asked, "Will it scar?"

Kurama rubbed in a little bit more medicine and bandaged her stomach up slowly without saying a word. He walked over and washed his hands. While drying he said, "I'm sure it will. It will probably be permanently scarred." Amane let out a groan. Just her luck. "Now, now. If you're lucky, it will probably be a small one."

Amane got up to her feet from her seat and went to the cabinets. "Time to go make those sandwiches." Kurama offered his help and the two worked together making some. They piled all of them on a plate and Amane walked out with them.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were resting on the ground. Hiei was reclining in a tree. "It's about time!" Yusuke got to his feet and walked up to Kurama and Amane.

He picked one off the plate, following him was Kuwabara, "Thank you." He said. Amane nodded at him. It wasn't a big deal. Amane turned to Kurama and offered him one. Kurama politely took one and said thank you as well.

She looked around to find where Hiei went off to. She found him resting in a nearby tree. Amane looked up to Hiei, "Want one?"

"I'll pass," He said, "I don't partake in _human _food."

'lies,' Amane thought in her head. If Kurama could eat it then it's not like it was going to poison Hiei. She sighed, "suit it yourself." Amane picked one off the plate and took a bite, "But it's not going to kill you. I'll leave yours in the kitchen. Feel free to take it if you want it." Amane turned and did as she said she would. She finished her snack in the kitchen. Coming back to the group she noticed they too were done.

Yusuke approached his cousin, "We are going to look for Takeo." Amane opened her mouth to speak, but Yusuke already knew what she was going to say. "No, you can't come."

"We know you want to help, but you are injured. We don't want you getting seriously hurt." Kurama said.

Amane sighed, "Okay." She followed the boys out. She stopped at the barrier and watched the boys leave. Amane turned around and walked back. She really wanted to help the boys. But Kurama was right, she was too injured to help.

Time passed, the sun set. In Amane's room she and Yukina sat around. Yukina had improved. Amane was teaching her how to read music sheets, using her own songs she had written over the years. Amane listened to the tune Yukina was playing. There were some rough patches, but it was mostly well plaid. "Time is up," Amane said. "You did great. I don't think I will be playing tonight. If you want you can take it for the night."

Yukina was excited, "Really?" Amane nodded and handed the instrument to Yukina. The ice princess gave Amane a hug, "thank you so much, I promise I'll give it back to you tomorrow."

"I know you will." Amane said. She and Yukina walked out of her room.

"How come you don't want it tonight?" Yukina asked curiously.

She smiled at Yukina, "Jin is coming tonight."

Yukina smiled back, "Okay, well have fun." Amane and Yukina walked out of the room. Amane walked one way, Yukina took the other way.

The night sky was beautiful. The stars were already out and the moon was shining brightly. Amane sat outside, just along the barrier, waiting for her perky demon to show himself. Several minutes passed and he hadn't arrived yet. Suddenly, there was a rustling noise in the bushes on the other side of the barrier. "Jin?" she called out. There was no response. She called out for him once more. A shadowy figure began approaching her. Amane squinted, and she realized who it was. "What are you doing here Takeo?"

Takeo stood in front of Amane just outside the barrier. "I know how you can get what you seek." His hand reached out to Amane, touching the barrier. Takeo pulled back with a yelp. Genkai put up the barrier for protection. She said there was no way Takeo could come in.

"You have nothing I'd want," Amane bravely said. She was confident, but that's because she knew there was nothing Takeo could do to hurt her as long as she was behind the spiritual wall that separated the two.

Takeo let out a laugh, he found her to be pathetic. "You do," he started, "You're torn. You wish to get closer to Jin Kaze Tsukai. You wish to age like a demon."

Amane's eyes narrowed at the animal like demon. Kurama said it was rare. How could he possibly know how to do such a thing as that. "Maybe that's true." She admitted, "But you couldn't do a thing about it. In the end of the day, I am a human, and will always be."

Takeo grinned, showing off his many sharp teeth, "that is true. But you can become more. Just give me spiritual energy. And I will grant you demonic energy. You could be with that fool of a shinobi for a demon long lifetime."

Amane looked at Takeo. Could it be true? Can Takeo really do such a thing? No doubt he was powerful, maybe it is possible. Amane slowly reached her hand out to his. But then she pulled it back. Takeo was a murderer. She knew what happened to Shizuru. Was it worth the risk? "You have already killed one person."

"There is a difference. She did not want what you do." Takeo said. "Come with me. Become a demon." Amane thought about Jin. He was worth the risk. Taking slow steps she walked out of the barrier. Takeo grabbed onto her and took her away to his lair.

An hour had passed and Jin came down to the temple. Flowers in his hand. He looked around. No Amane. 'Maybe she want on inside?' Jin thought to himself. He walked into the temple and slid open Amane's door. "I'm here!" He yelled in a cheerful voice. He looked around. She wasn't here either. Jin went door to door looking for her. Each room had the same result. Finally he opened a door and found Yukina, "do ya know where Amane be hiding?" he asked.

Ykina looked up from the guitar to Jin, "She said, she was going to be with you tonight. She already walked outside to wait for you."

Jin began worrying. "Ya sure?" He asked. Yukina nodded, "Okay. Thanks." Jin replied quickly. The wind master continued to look around. And with each passing second he more and more began fearing the worst has happened. At last he looked through just about the entire temple. Walking outside he dropped the flowers and flew up into the sky and back to the mountains.

Arriving onto the mountains he pushed open the doors. He rushed to where the other boys were training. "Hey," Jin started, "I think something' bad happ'ned to Amane."

The boys stopped what they were doing and looked at Jin, "Are you sure?" Touya asked. Jin nodded, desprate to figure out what had happened to Amane. "Then we have to do something? Don't we?" Jin smiled. He knew his friends would help him if he needed it.

"Aye." Jin answered. "First thing we need to do is go find Genkai and Yusuke." And with that, the group rushed over to Genkai's temple.

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><p>Author's note: Yep, so here is the new chapter. There's plenty more coming up so don't miss the updates! Much love, me.<p> 


	9. Trapped

Trapped

'It's dark,' Amane's voice rang in her mind, 'why cant I see?' Struggling, she twitched her fingers. They regained some feeling. Her hands were on a rough surface; it was coarse to the touch. Amane tried to make a sound, but nothing came out. What seemed like hours passed and Amane began feeling her lips trembling. She swallowed a bit and pain ran down her dry throat. Amane gathered the strength to lift her eyelids. Her eyes cracked open a bit, her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room. Amane couldn't pick up her head, she continued staring at the floor before giving up and closing her eyes again. In the distance she could hear the light tapping of footsteps walking. 'Jin?' Amane thought desperately in her head. The footsteps got louder and louder with each passing second. Suddenly, it stopped. A rough hand, with sharp claws cleared the bangs from her forehead. She felt the hand touch her forehead. All hope abandoned Amane, that wasn't Jin's touch.

A pulsing pain began gathering to the hand. Amane managed to let out a silent whimper, she didn't even have the energy to scream. The pain increased as she tried her best to resist until she couldn't take the pain, and everything went black again. In the blackness, Amane heard a voice whisper close to her ear, "This is the price of your wish." Amane took in small breaths of air, she could barely breath in this prison. The footsteps started again, farther and farther until they vanished from her hearing range.

Amane was alone in her prison, she felt weak and helpless. Her prisonn was completely soundless, it felt as if she was in solitary confinement. It felt like hours maybe even days, Amane couldn't say for sure, passed; with no sign of rescue. Amane took her time and opened her eyes slowly. Her eyes opened completely. Now it was time to lift her head. She lifted her head slowly, inch by inch. At last she managed to gather the strength to lift her head and open her eyes. She turned her sore neck as she looked off into the darkness around her. With a grunt she looked down, she was sitting in a chair, metal bands tie each wrist to an arm rest and each leg to a chair leg.

Struggling to move she tried to slide her hands free from their restraints. A bolt of electricity ran through the metallic restraints to the rest of her body. Amane yelped in pain and she sat still. Now she remembers, she has tried that before; many times. Each time ending like the rest. An electric shock. Now it definitely felt like being in a prison. But instead of being in solitary confinement, it was like being in the electric chair.

Amane's vision blurred as tears ran down her face. She felt stupid; walking straight into this trap. Swallowing hard, and just like before, feeling the stinging pain run down her throat, she didn't know what else there was left to do. Amane closed her eyes and tried thinking of happy thoughts.

Growing up with her cousin Yusuke, living with him and her auntie Atsuko. Watching Yusuke and Keiko play, she stayed indoors and watched. Moving away from Yusuke to another town. Making new friends at school, but not keeping them close to her until they proved themselves to be trustworthy. The occasional Christmas visits to the other Uramaeshi household over the years. Getting news of staying with Yusuke over the summer. Meeting Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara. Jin. Training with the boys. Jin. Teaching Yukina how to play the guitar. Jin. Meeting Rinku, Suzuka, Chu, Touya, and Shishi. Jin. The thoughts made her tears stream faster down her face.

"This is hopeless…" Amane whispered to herself in a hoarse voice. Her eyes tightened shut, "Someone help me. Help me, please. Help me… Jin."

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><p>Author's note: Sorry for the super short chapter. Last week was not a good week and I was busy this week, my only free writing days was today and Thursday. Anyway, I stopped half way through the next chapter and wrote this chapter up instead when I realized I probably wasn't going to bring up Amane as the main focus character for a while, so I figured I may as well give you a taste of what's going on with her. Enjoy this chapter while I finish up the next. It should be up really soon. Much love, me.<p> 


	10. The Search Begins

The Search Begins

"Stupid must run in the Dimwit's family," Genkai said. She pulled the cup closer to her lips and took in some tea. "I'm not sure how much information those four have on Takeo."

"They have no leads? That's not good." Rinku stated. "Are they even here?"

"They left hours ago," Genkai replied. "I'll see what I can do to get a hold of them at this time." Jin frowned. How many hours will that take? Time is very important right now and all they were doing was sitting around. Genkai stood up and walked out of the room. The six demons sat quietly waiting for Genkai to come back. Touya put his hand on Jin's shoulder and gave him a look as if to say 'everything will be okay'. Genkai came back with a metallic suitcase. She opened it up, revealing a screen inside. Genkai turned on the small television looking device. A young child appeared on the screen. "Koenma." Genkai greeted.

"Genkai." The young boy returned. "Can I help you with something?" He asked.

"It seems Yusuke's cousin was kidnapped by Takeo." Genkai said. Her words seemed like sharp knives stabbing Jin in the stomach. "We're going to need Yusuke and the rest up here."

"Right." the boy responded right away, "I'll get Botan to fetch them right away." Genkai nodded and turned off the screen. She turned to the demons, "for now, this is all we can do."

Jin could not believe this. "I don' think so!" He walked over to the door and stopped, his back towards the group. "I'm going to go look for her." Nobody stopped him. Jin slid open the door and flew off in a hurry.

"He's not going to get far." Genkai said. "We have been looking for this guy for months. Amane is as good as gone."

"You don't know that for sure." Suzuka said.

"Right, let the poor guy have some hope." Shishiwakamaru sarcastically replied. Suzuka glared at Shishi, refusing to start fighting with him.

As soon as Yusuke got the news he headed off as quickly to Genkai's temple; without waiting for kurama, kuwabara, or Hiei. He hurried up the stairs of the temple; which seemed to be endless. Yusuke walked straight to the main room where he heard talking and slid the paper doors open. "Is she really gone?" He asked.

Genkai nodded, "We don't know when or how, but yes."

Furious, Yusuke punched the wall in a fit of anger, "I told her to stay here. She never listens."

Touya stood and walked towards his friend. He put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder, "I doubt she just left." Yusuke turned to Touya, desperate for a reason to find his cousin innocent of just walking out of the temple's barriers. Touya continued, "Jin said they had plans. I'm sure she wouldn't just leave if she knew Jin was coming over."

Yusuke looked down, slightly calmer, "Yeah, I guess." He looked around, "Where is Jin anyway?"

"Out looking for Amane of course." Rinku answered. "We couldn't keep him here for long."

Yusuke smiled a little, he's glad someone was out there looking for her. He took a deep breath, "Okay, so what do we know." The six demons looked at Yusuke blankly, "obviously, you all don't know anything about this. Great lead."

"You're the Spirit Detective, shouldn't you know something?" Genkai snapped.

A voice came up from behind Yusuke, "He's nearby. Definitely within a 25 mile radius of this temple. A new, unnamed, source claims that he could be underground." They all looked to see Kurama, leading Hiei and Kuwabara behind.

"So, Jin's just wasting his time looking by air?" Suzuka asked.

"Not necessarily." Hiei answered, "he might be able to find something out of the ordinary that could lead us to Takeo. Or, he might not."

"The chances that he will?" Suzuka inquired.

"Slim to none. He's a top rank demon. I'm certain he wouldn't be making any mistakes like that." Hiei replied.

They all fell silent. "How long has it been since Jin left?" Yusuke asked.

"Bloke left hours ago." Chu answered, "Probably not coming back for a while."

Yusuke looked over to Kuwabara, "Hey Kuwabara, don't think too hard, you're brain might not be able to take it."

"Shuddup Urameshi!" Kuwabara snapped, "I was just thinking about that psychic spy glass!"

Yusuke looked confused, "What about it?"

"Chances are, his lair is underground. Shouldn't the spy glass see it?" Kuwabara explained in a 'matter of fact' voice. Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama looked at each other. Could it work?

"It's worth a try." Yusuke said, "but I only have one."

"Jin," Kurama said. Everyone in the room looked at him for an explanation. "I'm sure if he had the spy glass he could find the lair. Assuming the spy glass will be able to see his lair in the first place that is."

"Who knows when Jin will come back." Shishi argued. That was true. Yusuke left the room. He kept the spirit detective tools in the temple.

He returned with the spy glass in his hands. Yusuke tossed the spy glass over to Shishi. "You can fly." Shishi looked at the glass with the green trim and blue string. What could he possibly loose. "Oh, and if you see Jin, you should inform him too."

Shishi nodded. Ans with that he transformed into his imp form. Yusuke opened the sliding door and Shishi flew out of the temple. He looked back once to his comrades in the temple, and flew off into the sky. Shishi put the spy glass up to his rather large, yellow, imp eye. He couldn't see anything in the ground. He continued flying looking at the ground through the spy glass; being sure he didn't over look any small openings. Shishi focused on the ground, unaware of his other surroundings. His head it something hard.

"Ah! Watch it!" Jin yelped, holding the side of his head where Shishi had ran into him. Shocked, Shishi dropped the spy glass. Jin used his wind powers and lifted the spy glass from free fall to his hands. "What's this?" Shishi explained what the spy glass did and what the plan was. Jin's eyes widened, "no kiddin' no wonder I couldn't find anything. I'll be takin' this Shishi. I fly faster than you do."

Shishi nodded. "I'll head back to the temple. Come get everyone when you find something."

"O' course." Jin answered, and the two parted ways. Shishi made his way back to the temple, the door was still open and he flew inside.

Everyone looke over to Shishi hoping for good news. Shishi changed back into his regular form and filled everyone in. "Jin has the spy glass, he will be coming back when he finds something."

"Well, I guess now all we can do is wait." Suzuka said. He leaned his back up against the wall and glanced out the window. The temple was silent as they waited for the wind master to return. Hours passed and there was no sign of Jin. Yusuke scanned the room around. No one has put forth an effort to speak.

The dust blew into the room from the open door. Jin entered the room in a hurry, "I found it!" He exclaimed. Every one stared at the wind master in shock.

"Take us there." Yusuke ordered.

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><p>Author's Note: Yay, dance class got cancelled so I got to finish typing this chapter and start the next! Thank you all for reading this. I should have the next chapter up soon. Much love, me.<p> 


	11. Rescue Mission

Author's Note: Gee Sims 3. I would totally have finished this fic and started a new one if I wasn't busy playing you. ****SPOILER WARNING**** If you have not yet reached Chapter Black or The Three Kings in the Yu Yu Hakusho series, I suggest not reading the author's note on the bottom of this chapter. Well, there's your warning, I better not be getting any angry messages. Much Love, me.

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><p>Rescue Mission<p>

Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Jin have all fought off Takeo at one point; they all knew the extent of his power. Yusuke and his crew have been fighting him off for months now; Jin dealt with him once and barely managed to flee with Amane. The other boys were going to be needed for this mission. "You found them?" Yusuke started. "Great, but we are going to need all of you."

"All of us?" Rinku asked, "How strong can one guy be?"

"He gets stronger every time he absorbs life energy." Kurama started, "We don't know how powerful he currently is. Or if he's absorbed Amane's life energy." Kurama's words were like daggers to Jin.

"Let's go, now!" Jin urged. He walked outside and got the wind surrounding his body, the winds he moved lifted him up. Shishi, in imp form, flew up to accompany Jin. Everyone else traveled by foot. Jin lead the group, occasionally looking down to see where the boys were. Hiei used his speed to travel tree to tree. Yusuke, Kurama, and Touya lead. Rinku and Suzuka followed. Kuwabara and Chu straggled shortly behind. Jin looked forward, he was going at his max speed; unfortunately, the winds were very slow that day and it didn't take him anywhere quickly.

Jin looked down and landed, Shishi follwed Jin down. They turned and waited for the rest to come. "Why stop?" Yusuke asked. The rest arrived and waited for the wind master's response.

Jin pointed to the water. "Under there." Everyone looked at Jin confused. Jin explained, "There be an under water cavern in there."

"Wow," Kuwabara started, "Sure hope everyone here is a good swimmer."

"Actually, it doesn't seem to be that far from the surface. I'd say it's about a two minute dive; make it there in about four minutes." Jin continued explaining. That's all the group needed to hear. They all walked to the edge of the beach and looked into the ocean's blueness.

"When we get to the cavern we all wait. Our opponent is no fool. We must make our plan, while we still have the element of surprise." The boys nodded and all jumped into the water. Jin led the boys deeper into the water. He pointed to a strange rock formation. They all swam closer to it. The boys followed the wind master as he moved closer and deeper down into the ocean. Jin pushed himself through a crevice. Chu struggled fitting through it for a bit and managed to slide himself through, everyone else fit into it fine. The boys surfaced slowly. The cavern was much bigger than they imagined. Silently they swam to the wall and moved forward behind a large rock like formation. They all hid behind it as they made their plans.

"What do we do now? Who knew this place was going to be so big." Shishi started.

"If you ask me, I say we split into groups and cover more ground." Suzuka suggested.

"We would be too small in numbers. We need to be in one group as we are now." Kurama said. And as usual, he was right.

Yusuke was stressed out by this whole thing, They have never been so close to catching Takeo as they are now. "How about we make him come to us?" Suzuka, Hiei, and Chu agreed. The others agreed with Kurama. All Jin wanted to do was find Ayame.

"Kurama's idea was best," Touya started, "I say we proceed with caution." The boys nodded. Touya looked at his shinobi companion and muttered to Kurama. Kurama looked hesitant, but he nodded in agreement. "Jin, when we find Takeo, go look for Amane. We will hold him off." Jin looked up. He did want to find Amane, but he also wanted to fight by his companions' sides. Touya could read Jin's torn expression like a book. "Jin, this should be no contest."

That's all Jin needed to hear. "Right."

The group was led by Jin and Touya. They were the Shinobi; they have had years of experience working in the darkness. Jin and Touya walked within the darkness, looking over their shoulders, every direction, and over every corner. Adrenalin ran through all the boys, the nerve wracking feeling Takeo could show up in any second was unbearable. The cavern was like a maze, Touya and Jin were nearly certain they would hit a dead end soon. Jin and Touya stopped; the rest of the group mimicking their movements also stopped. A noise, footsteps, was approaching at a slow, calm speed. Yusuke took the lead quietly. He knealt down in front of Jin and Touya; Spirit Gun ready to be fired.

Touya put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder, "Not yet." They waited for the footsteps to become louder while a dark silhouette approaches closer. The Ice master let go of Yusuke's shoulder. Now!" And with that, Yusuke fired his trademark Spirit Gun. The blast soared through the air. The target moved quickly. He was much faster than before. At an incredible speed Takeo rushed to his attackers. Touya glanced over to Jin, "Go, hurry!"

Jin tried using his wind powers. No use. There is no wind in the caverns. Jin wasn't a fan of doing anything by foot, but right now it was all he could do. The wind master ran for it as soon as Takeo readied his claws to pierce into the spirit detective. Jin was not noticeable and slipped away safely. Yusuke hoped Jin would find Amane alive.

Hiei swung his sword at Takeo; Hiei was fast, but Takeo was faster. Shishi, in his regular form, and Touya rushed into the sword battle. Shishi wielding a sword in his hands. An icy sword surrounding Touya's hand. The two charged as Hiei struggled to hit Takeo. Takeo felt Shishi and Touya's presence. He vanished. The three swordsmen stopped and looked around. Shishi let out a scream in pain. Everyone looked to see an energy wrapping around him. Shishi was trapped in Takeo's energy; he swiped his sword against the walls, failing to cut through. They all saw Takeo next to the energy trap, the ice master in his hands. Touya struggled to break free from the demon's grasp. Hiei charged up to Takeo, sword ready to strike. His speed quickened as he moved up behind Takeo and rised his sword up for a kill. Takeo turned quickly and tossed the ice master at Hiei. Yusuke fired his spirit gun while Takeo had his back turned to him. Takeo got out of the way and put the spirit gun blast to Hiei and Touya direction. Hiei grabbed onto the stunned Touya and pulled him out of the way. Chu charged in, he swiftly threw punches at Takeo. And just as swiftly as Chu delivered them, Takeo dogged them.

Chu pushed him back, distracting him with punches into Kuwabara. Kuwabara summoned his Spirit Sword and slashed at Takeo. His sword grazed Takeo's skin as he moved out of the way. 'So close,' Kuwabara thought to himself. Takeo suddenly appeared behind Kuwabara and punched him in the back of his head. Kuwabara fell forward in agony. Kurama rushed towards his companion and stood above him. Kurama pulled out his rose and created his rose whip. Tactically, Kurama swung his whip towards Takeo. Takeo blocked with his arms, his arms cut up with every slash. He moves in closer to Kurama, held on to his whip and attempted to punch Kurama in his stomach. Kurama moved back.

Rinku and Suzuka did all they could do to free Shishi. Exhausted, they looked back to see where Takeo was. Yusuke and Takeo were fighting. They looked at each other. "I think we need Jin." Runku muttered to Suzuka.

Meanwhile, Jin raced around the maze like rock formation. He became desperate. "Amane!" He called out. No response. Jin ran faster, soon enough he saw a dim light ahead. He saw a small room, there were stairs off to the side. Jin looked down to the bottom, he saw Amane passed out in a chair. He hurried down the steps and rushed to Amane. Jin knelt down to look Amane in the eyes. Her eyes were opened slightly, they looked empty and expressionless. Jin reached out and touched her chest, no heartbeat. He bit his bottom lip and looked down. "No…" he mumbled to himself. He looked back up and held her face in his hands. He blinked the tears away, her skin was cold, but he could still feel some warmth from her skin. "Amane…?"

"Jin?" Amane muttered.

A small smile crossed Jin's face. "You're alive? Thank goodness." Jin slid his hands down her face and held her hand. "Stay strong. I'll break you out of this." Amane gave no response, she didn't have the strength. Jin grabbed onto the first metal piece and tried to pull it off. Amane winced in pain as the shock ran through her body. Jin stopped as soon as he realized he was hurting Amane. He knelt down to Amane. "I don't see how to get around this…" Amane blinked and nodded. Without words Jin understood what she said. He stood up and gripped tightly on the metal cuff and pulled as heard as he could. Amane yelped in pain. Jin pulled harder and managed to pull it off; stopping the shock. He looked at the cuff in his hands, he just caused her so much pain; Jin was uncertain he could do it one more time. "I can't do it."

"Keep… going." Amane muttered under her breath, in between gasps.

Jin was hesitant, but he did as he was told. He reached out, tightly gripped the last cuff and pulled as hard as he could. Amane gritted her teeth, trying not to show how much pain she was going through. Jin pulled it off and the pain slowly stopped. He took Amane in his arms. "What has he done to you." He muttered to her as he held her tightly. Jin stood, there was no way to sneak past Takeo, hopefully he was already dead. Jin moved to the stairs and walked up them. He took her up to the stairs.

Up ahead he saw the group. They were all injured, including Takeo. Takeo turned to see Jin; Amane in his arms. "When did you find her?" He growled. Jin didn't answer.

He loved a good fight, but he didn't want anything to do with this one. All Jin wanted was Amane and his friends safe. Takeo charged towards Jin to retrieve Amane. 'This is my last shot!' Yusuke thought to himself. He readied himself and put in all the energy he had left into one last Spirit Gun blast; he fired. 'Please hit him.' he chanted in his head as he watched the blast move to Takeo at full speed. The distracted demon took the hit, he laid on the floor dead; his body burned nearly to ashes. Within seconds Shishi was freed.

"You did it!" Rinku exclaimed happily. All but Yusuke relaxed. He was exhausted and lost his balance several times. With the help of Kurama he helped Yusuke on Kuwabara's back. They had their victory, everyone was to celebrate when they were all better. But for now, everyone wanted to get back to Genkai's temple.

They all walked in silence which Kurama broke when he asked Jin, "How is she doing?" "Not so good," he started. He wasn't sure how to explain the rest to everyone, "she has no heartbeat."

Everyone stopped in their tracks. "Doesn't that usually mean a human is dead?"

Jin nodded, "She's clearly alive. It's faint, but I've been feelin' a different aura from 'er since I carried 'er. Somethin' has changed."

They all gathered around. As time passes and the aura got stronger it became clear to everyone but Kuwabara and Yusuke. This was no human aura, but demon.

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><p>Author's note: <strong>*Spoiler Warning*<strong> …okay, you have been warned. So, I was thinking about which direction I wanted to take this and I've been watching Yu Yu Hakusho while thinking about it and a question came across my mind. Raizen said that he planned his part demon descendant to show up 44 generations from then. I thought about how I made Yusuke and Amane the same age. Sooo… wouldn't that make her in the 44th gen with Yusuke? I think so. Anyway, next chapter is coming up soon and next fic is coming very soon. I promise. Much Love, Me.


	12. All Must Come to an End

All Must Come to an End

It had been weeks since Takeo's death. The group escaped with both Urameshi's unconscious. Yusuke recovered in two days, only moving around when he wanted to eat. Amane was still under bed rest, with a very dedicated wind master by her side. She has been unconscious most of the day, occasionally being able to open her eyes or give some sort of sign on how she was doing; verbal or non verbal.

Kurama walked down the long, seemingly endless, hallway. He walked towards Amane's door; sliding it open to see a familiar sight. Kurama walked up to his friend, who was dozing off on a chair holding Amane's hand as she slept. Placing a hand on Jin's shoulder, he said in a quiet voice, "It's time to give Amane her medicine. Why don't you go eat?" Jin rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. He nodded and left Kurama to work. Kurama sat on the chair and put a hand on Amane's arm. Gently, he shook it until Amane gave him a small and quiet sound. Kurama slipped his arm under Amane and gripped her tight enough to help her sit up. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a vile. This was one of Kurama's concoctions, Amane has been improving greatly and soon enough she wont need any of his medicine at all. Kurama put the vile up against Amane's lips, she drank the sour liquid without any complaint.

"Thank you," Amane said in a silent voice. Since she had regained the energy to speak, her voice had become much more soft, almost compared to a whisper.

Kurama smiled, "it's nothing at all." He helped her to lay on the bed. "May I ask you about what happened?" Amane nodded. "I'll make it short. I know you can't talk much. Are you aware there's something different about you now?" Amane looked up, as if to look like she was thinking. She nodded. "Explain?"

"Demon energy." Her words were short.

"How do you know that?" Kurama asked.

"Heard you all talk about it." Amane replied. Kurama was surprised over how calm she was about the whole thing.

"You know it's getting stronger too, right?" He asked. Amane tilted her head a bit, to say she was confused. Kurama picked up her arm and showed her what he meant. Amane looked to see strange blue, tribal like, markings on her arms. Those were not there last time she saw. "Your new energy is growing slightly. And it's actually changing your looks physically. These markings are it." Amane's eyes grew wider a little. That will be a little hard to explain to her parents. She had plenty of time to think about this demon thing, she decided it was best if her parents didn't know. Then, Kurama asked a question she didn't expect anyone to ask. "Is this what you wanted?"

Amane's eyes looked around the room, she closed them tightly and said quietly, "yes."

Kurama frowned, "You put yourself in great danger. There had to be a reason why. What was it?" Amane didn't need to answer. The door slid open and Jin walked in holding a tray with some food on it. Amane's eyes attracted towards him like a magnet. No words were needed. "I see." Kurama didn't know what else to say. He didn't have any more questions he could ask her; at least, none she would know an answer to. He spoke up, "I'm not like you. But I too know how it is to keep a secret, like yours, from the world. If you ever need someone to help you. I would be more than happy to help." Amane smiled. She knew she didn't have to go through it alone. As long as she had Yusuke and everyone else, she knew she wasn't alone.

Kurama stood up and left the room. Jin sat down and asked, "How was it?" "Not too bad." Amane replied. Jin offered her some of his meal. Amane smiled, face turning slightly pink.

Kurama walked back to the group. Everyone was out front. Since Jin refused to go back to the hideout, Touya and the rest have been staying at the temple. Hiei was up in a tree as usual. Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Chu were laughing, taking a break from a training session. Suzuka sat along the temple's porch. He didn't get a sight like this in the mountains. Rinku and Touya walked up to Kurama.

"How's Amane doing?" Rinku asked.

"Improving. I'd say she would be back to normal in a day or two." Kurama replied.

"And Jin?" Touya asked.

"I'd say he'd be back to himself when Amane gets better." Kurama said. He paused and thought about his words. "Or… maybe not."

"What do you mean?" Touya asked.

"I don't think Amane has told him she is going to leave soon." Kurama said.

"What? Leave? Where?" Rinku asked with a frown.

Kurama wasn't sure what to say to make things sound better, "back to her family."

"Aw, really? Amane is really fun to be around, I thought she would stay here. Being a demon now." Rinku complained. Touya nodded. He expected her to stay. If not for her new demon self, she would do it for Jin.

"She doesn't know what she's going to do. But she does know she's leaving for sure." Kurama answered. Rinku looked down, disappointed. "But I'm sure, when she can, she will visit."

Rinku looked up at Kurama. "Yeah, that's true. Poor Jin though. He has no clue she's leaving. He thinks she's staying."

"She will tell him. When she is ready." Kurama replied.

Just as Kurama said, Amane recovered in a few days. Each day she became more sorrowful, reluctant to tell Jin she couldn't stay. Jin and Amane spent all day together. Even after she recovered; where ever she went the wind master followed, his hand being held by Amane's. Often the two would sit together, and talk about whatever. Amane would often reach up, the tip of her finger lightly touching the top of Jin's horn; warning him to cover it up if he ever got a chance to meet her parents. The idea made him nervous. It wasn't a matter of strength, he knew they couldn't hurt him. Maybe it was a relationship thing?

Jin's room had always been next to hers, incase she needed Jin he would always be close. One night Amane was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling above her. She rose from her bed and walked over to her stuff. She knelt down in front of it and rummaged through her stuff. She took a deep breath out. Nothing interesting. She was leaving the next day and she wanted to leave Jin something to remember her by. She looked over to her guitar case and then to her bag. Suddenly an idea came to her. She looked through her bag and found a necklace she didn't wear all that often. She undid the clamps, removing the pendant. Amane opened her guitar case and grabbed her guitar pick. She struggled with a pen, but eventually managed to poke a hole through the pick. She slid the chain through the hole and secured the clamp. Amane didn't expect Jin to wear it, but she hoped he would keep it safe. Amane stood up and returned to bed, the pick resting in her hand.

The next morning the sun shined through the paper door. Amane sat up looking at the pick. She had wished this day would never come. She had really loved being with the boys. Even Hiei and his stubborn anti-social personality. She got ready for the day by dressing up and putting on some make up. Yusuke slid open her door and asked her if she was ready. Amane told him to give her a few more minutes. She walked next door and slid Jin's door open a crack. She peeked through. Jin was still fast asleep. She walked up to the wind master quietly. She slipped the pick in his hand and gave him a kiss on the forehead. She walked to the door, hesitant to leave. Suddenly she heard, "What dis fer?"

Amane turned to Jin, tears in her eyes. "A goodbye present."

"Goodbye?" He asked. Jin got to his feet and walked up to Amane. "Where are you going?"

Amane didn't want to tell him more. "Home." Jin could hear a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Oh, I see." Jin replied.

Amane truly wanted to stay. She made one life changing decision for Jin. She wanted some time before she could make another. Amane wanted a bit more time to pretend to be a regular teenaged girl before deciding how she wanted to spend her life as a demon; would she have to leave her parents completely one day? She knew she was going to out live them, but out live Yusuke? And Yusuke's children? And their children? "I'll come back. I promise." She finally said. "I will."

Jin decided to take her word for it. His heart felt heavy and it was a little harder to breath now. He swallowed hard. He had nothing to give her. "When are you going?" He asked.

"Now." Amane replied. Jin held Amane in his arms. Amane did the same and wrapped her arms around him. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss ya too." Jin replied. Amane couldn't help but smile, she always thought Jin's accent was the cutest thing she has ever heard. Amane and Jin walked side by side, hand in hand back to her room. Amane grabbed her bag, Jin held the guitar case for her.

Up ahead towards the Temple's exit the other boys stood, along with Genkai and Yukina. She gave Yukina, Rinku, Touya, Suzuka and Chu a hug goodbye. Shishi and Genkai weren't the hugging type. She shook Shishi's hand. And bowed bolitely to Genkai. Genkai spoke up, "If your new demon powers become too much, don't be stupid, come back here immediately."

"Yes, Genkai." She politely responded. This trip taught her to act more responsibly. And she definitely would take up Genkai's offer if she needed it. Up ahead were the stairs and the bus stop was a twenty minute walk. Amane said everything she had to say to Jin earlier. She looked up at Jin and gave his hand a tight squeeze. Reluctantly she let Jin's hand slide out of hers. She could have held his hand forever. "Bye." Jin handed her the guitar case and Amane turned her back and walked down the stairs each step was even more painful than the last. Occasionally she would look back and see Jin watching her from the sky. By the time Amane, Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara reached the bus stop, Jin could no longer be seen.

The bus rolled in. She gave each Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke a tight hug. Hiei, another non hugger, was given a friendly smile. Amae walked onto the bus and watched her cousin and friends dissapear in the horizon. She pulled her guitar case close to her and closed her eyes. She missed everyone already. Amane conjured a song into her head while she stared out the window.

Amane rode the bus all the way to it's last stop. The train station. Leaving the bus and boarding the train she thought about everything she had done this summer. She really did hope to see Jin next summer, but that was too far away. Amane dozed off on the train. She was woken by the sound of people leaving. Amane rose and followed the river of people getting off the train. There, she saw her parents waiting for her. Normally, she would be happy to see them but today was different. Amane tossed her bag and guitar case in the back of the car and sat in the back seat, without saying a word to her parents. "How was your summer?" Amane's mom asked.

"Fine," Amane answered. It was perfect until today. Her parents saw she was not in the mood to talk and they did what they normally would do and left her alone. The car pulled up in front of the drive way. Amane grabbed her bag and guitar case and walked immediately to her room. She dropped everything off to the side and closed her door. She walked over to her window and opened it. Looking out she saw the moon and stars. It was a clear night. The breeze felt nice. She walked to her bed and hugged the pillow. Tears rolling down her face. She wished she was back at the temple. This place doesn't quite feel like home anymore.

Amane closed her eyes, they stung from all the crying. Her face felt warm. Amane cracked her eyes open. There she saw exactly what she wanted to see. Jin was knelling next to her, carefully wiping her tears. Amane immediately wrapped her arms around Jin's neck. Jin returned the hug. "I missed ya." Jin said. Amane smiled. She felt the same way. Amane released Jin from her grasp. Jin stood and headed for the window. The smile faded from Amane's face. Jin turned to her and said, "Well, ya comin'?"

Amane didn't care where he was going as long as it's with him she didn't care. Amane stood up and walked over to Jin. Jin held onto Amane tightly and flew off into the sky. Unlike the first time, Amane wasn't scared. The only thing she felt was scary was people on the ground seeing them. But no one saw, as far as she knew. They were too high. Jin landed at the park. It was deserted. The two settled down in the grass under a tree. "Kurama told meh about whatcha did."

Amane looked at him curiously. "What did I do?"

"Ya know." Jin replied. Amane did know. Did the decision bother Jin? She didn't think it would have. "I'm not sure what ta say" he started. Jin paused and said, "maybe, thank ya is a good start." Amane looked at him, confused as ever. "'tis nice to know ya were thinkin' long term with meh. I was too. So it's nice knowin' how much you gave up ta be with meh." Amane smiled. The decision was easy because she didn't think about what she was loosing. She only thought about what she was gaining.

She stared off, looking at the wind master. She looked at every little detail. His sky blue eyes. His not-so-tan-not-so-pale skin complexion. His pointy ears and horn. If it wasn't for Jin being right there, she wouldn't have believed it. What started out as a family visit became more. She looked at his face, dimly lit by the moon. Running her fingers through his red hair their lips met. And then, she realized two things. One, this is what love must feel like. And two, This was her best summer ever.

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><p>Author's note: Well, this is the end. Thank you all for reading this and adding it to your faves and commenting. I really appreciate it! My next story will be up soon after I finish this one. I like doing couples stories so if any one has a couple in mind feel free to message me and I'll get on it when I can. Until next time. Much love, me.<p> 


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